I was a huge fan of the Tales from the Crypt tv show. Granted, they weren’t all gold, but there are some awesome bits in there. Christopher Reeve chopping up folks and serving them as food in his diner is one such memory. This film is another. I absolutely loved this film when it was released in theaters back in 1995, but does it hold up to a more recent viewing?

FUCK YES. This movie is great in all the right ways and bad in all the right ways. And good god, the soundtrack. There are songs in this movie that I only know because of the soundtrack. Even today when Cemetery Gates comes on or Hey Man, Nice Shot..my brain-meats automatically conjure up images of a bald Billy Zane leading a horde of demons. At night. You know, like a …demon knight. Or something. I also forgot who was in this movie! Back when this came out, these names meant nothing to me, but Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3’s Sandman), Billy Zane (Titanic), CCH Pounder (how the fuck is CCH a name?), Jada Pinkett Smith (Set It Off) and William Sadler (Green Mile, The Mist) all round out the cast here with familiar faces. The stand out performance, believe it or not, belongs to Billy Zane, who has since become kind of useless. I absolutely LOVE his work in this movie. He has such a devilish fun with this role that it has put everything else he’s done afterwards to shame.

Negatives: There are only a couple negatives in this film. One, some of the effects are dated, yes. But I feel like even back then they could have done a better prosthetic hand for when he brings forth the demons. It was just off-color and lumpy. It’s laughable. The other negative is Gary Farmer who is by far the worst part of this movie. How this dude got any work is beyond me. Deputy Bob sucks.

Best bit: Look out for the arrow in the eye scene. The comedic timing here is absolutely brilliant!!

Overall, this is a super-fun movie to break out as Halloween draws nearer, and I’m bummed that I didn’t re-watch this film sooner!

When not hosting the PopTards Podcast, fist-bumping his own nethers, discussing movies, comics and other flimflam here, JD is graphically designing/illustrating/inking for a living, hanging with the @$$holes over at www.aintitcoolnews.com and Booking his Face off over here.